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Augmented Reality (AR) & Virtual Reality (VR) is en route to becoming a gold standard for omnichannel branding. According to a recent report by PwC, AR & VR has the potential to add over $1.5 trillion to the global economy. If you think virtual reality apps are designed just for gaming, think again. VR headsets are more accessible than ever before thanks to products like the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, or Sony PlayStation VR. The latest virtual reality applications, many built in Unity, Maya, and Unreal Engine, open up a new medium for artists to venture in and experiment with techniques. Look through these fun project ideas and get started on your own virtual reality creation. Design an escape room.

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The technology industry is constantly trying to simplify the process of interaction with digital products. In a not so distant future, we will have natural user interfaces – interfaces where the interaction will be direct and consistent with our ‘natural’ behavior. And virtual reality (VR) contributes a lot to this movement. Google, Facebook, Microsoft, & Apple invest billions in the development of VR technologies. VR & AR are two technologies that many designers consider to be the future of interactions, but VR has a lot more potential. Industry experts believe that VR will introduce even more significant changes in our society than the advent of the mobile phone.

Designers need to be ready for that moment.This article is a quick guide to virtual reality UX design.

Understand people and the platform you design for

No matter what product you design, youshould always start with understanding people who will use it. Who are yourtarget users? What goals do they want to achieve using your VR app? Researchyour target audience, understand what problems they may encounter while theyexperience VR, and then create user personas and interaction flows based onthat information.

When it comes to VR platforms, a range of devices are available on the market today. From a very affordable Google Cardboard (you can purchase it for $15) that has only one button on the side of the device for clicking on targets to sophisticated HTC Vive Pro that has natural hand controllers. Every platform has unique capabilities, and it’s essential to consider the platform capabilities before starting VR design.

Visualize the process of interaction

Designing VR experience isn’t too differentthan the process for designing a web or mobile product. We still need tounderstand who our users are and how they will interact with our product. Butin comparison to traditional mobile apps/websites, VR experience requires amore active user involvement in the process of interaction. The user is less ofan observer and more like an active participant.

It’s possible to make a parallel betweenvirtual reality UX design and the experience of being in a car. In a VRenvironment, users are not “passengers,” they are “drivers.” They should havefull control of their movement inside the VR environment and be able toanticipate what they are about to see.

If you’re only at the beginning of the design process, it’s not recommended to start visualizing the process of interaction using digital prototyping software. When it comes to VR design, creating high-fidelity VR prototypes can be time-consuming (generally, creating hi-fidelity prototypes can cost much more in 3D than in 2D). Thus, try to get your ideas out on paper first. It’s much better to use a technique of storyboarding just to get a sense of how users will interact with your VR product.

Make VR space comfortable for users

When working on virtual reality UX design,you need to consider the capabilities of people who will use the VR product.

First, you need to consider the duration of the user session. It’s a well-researched fact that VR sessions shouldn’t be longer than 20-30 minutes because people start to lose concentration after that time period. If your experience requires longer sessions, allow users to save their current progress and re-engage with the experience right at the point where they stopped.

Second, it’s essential to understand thescale when designing in VR. In the real world, people can easily getuncomfortable in small, large, or high spaces. If you design a VR space that’stoo big, users may get lost. But if you design a space that is too small, usersmay feel claustrophobic.

Always maintain head tracking

Head tracking enables objects in virtualspace to maintain fixed positions regardless of how the user moves their head.Head tracking is an essential ingredient of creating the perception of avirtual world surrounding you.

Never stop tracking the user’s headposition when they are inside of the VR space. Even a short pause in headtracking can break a sense of immersion.

Eliminate hardware or software conditions that make head tracking freeze unintentionally. These moments commonly occur when loading a new scene or rendering a large number of 3D objects. Google VR design guidelines recommend fading the screen to black before losing tracking and maintaining audio feedback to give the user a signal that the app is still running.

Prevent motion sickness

Motion sickness is a disturbance created asa result of a disagreement between the visually perceived movement and thevestibular system’s sense of movement. Many automobile passengers feel motionsickness if they are not looking out of the windows of the vehicle while it’smoving.

Motion sickness is a severe problem in VRdesign. VR can easily confuse your brain because your body is stationary, butyou’re viewing an environment that is moving. As a result, there’s a potentialto present mismatches between physical and visual motion cues. Motion sicknessin VR can lead to fatigue, headaches, and general discomfort.

Here are a fewthings you can do to prevent motion sickness:

• Include fixed points of reference in the user’s environment. Fixed points of reference (also known as rest frames) keep eye stability by allowing users to focus on them. In many cases, you can design a horizon line that stays with users as they move.
• Use constant velocity. Create a more comfortable experience by keeping the user at a constant velocity when they are moving inside of your app.
• Reduce virtual rotations. Virtual rotations happen when users jump or zoom in the VR space. It’s especially important to reduce virtual rotation for VR flight simulations, rollercoaster games, and similar VR experiences.
• Add ambisonic sound to match the sense of movement.
• Create an experience (scenes) that lets users rest.

Avoid sudden changes

Sudden changes in your VR app, such aschanging the brightness, can confuse users. The abrupt transition of the userfrom a dark scene to a bright scene may cause eye strain. It is similar tostepping out of a dark room into the sun. Thus, try to introduce changes in VRspace gradually.

Design comfortable interactions

How do users interact with objects in VRspace? As a new medium, users may not be familiar with virtual realityinteractions yet. It might be tempting to introduce new interaction patterns –something that nobody did before. But it’s better to resist this temptationbecause novel interactions increase the user’s learning curve. It’s better tointroduce familiar interaction patterns.

There are two ways you can solve thisdesign challenge in virtual reality design:

• Place visible controls in theVR view. Visible controls are something we have in desktop and mobile apps.This pattern can also be used in VR space. When users launch your app, theywill see visible UI controls in their current field of view. If yourapplication allows movement, you need to update the location of the UI controlsbased on the user’s changing position and field of view.

• VR environments allow users tointeract with the digital world in the same way we interact with the physicalworld. The user can interact with 3D objects in VR space by holding and movingthem. If you want to utilize this interaction pattern, you need to give users avisual reticle (visual aid to track targets). Display a reticle when the useris doing fine targeting.

Since tactile feedback is still lacking inVR, it’s recommended to use sound to provide feedback when users touch objects.

Design onboarding scenarios

The first-time VR experience can bedramatically different from the well-known web and mobile experience. Don’texpect people to know what to do and where to go right away. It’s critical toonboard first-time users. Design special scenarios that help them get startedand provide clear affordances that users can rely on when navigating andinteracting within the space.

Guide users along the way

Because the virtual reality can beextremely complex, guiding user focus and attention presents unique challenges.In a VR environment, you can guide users not only using visuals but also usingaudio. Audio can be used for spatial positioning – holophonic sound allowsusers to understand where the sound is coming from – above, below, or behindthem.

Don’t expect users to read text instructions

Textual instructions don’t perform well inVR spaces for several reasons – a lot of text can cause eye strain, and it alsobreaks a sense of immersion. When it comes to VR design, it’s always better touse short text sentences or audio instructions instead of long blocks of text.

Virtual Reality UX design guidelines

As mentioned at the beginning of thisarticle, large corporations work to make VR experiences accessible for a largenumber of people, and they release guidelines that help design VR experiences.Here are a few guidelines to follow:

I also recommend checking The UX of VR – a curated list of resources to help you on your journey into the UX of virtual reality

Conclusion

VR is an emerging tech that has tremendous potential to change our world. It will have a strong influence on almost all aspects of our lives. Yet, VR is a new field with very few established conventions. And it’s what makes it so exciting for designers. It’s a perfect moment to join this field because your ideas can form the foundation for future generations of users. If you shift from 2D to 3D mockups today, maybe you will be the one who rethinks paradigms of human-computer interaction.

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Educationis the base for a thriving society, and the transfer of knowledge has been atop priority for civilizations since the very beginning. People are constantlylooking for ways to make knowledge transfer more easily, more quickly, and moreeffectively.

Inthe era of digital devices, we have an opportunity to enable better learningwith technology. Virtual Reality (VR) seems to be the natural next step for theevolution of education.

Inthis article, I’ll show how virtual reality can transform the way educationalcontent is delivered.

How we learn today

Before diving into the details of how VR in education will help improve the learning process, it’s important to understand why we need to improve the quality of education in the first place. Historically, most technologies designed to aid learning have been aimed at enabling access to information — facts and observations about the world. Before computers, we had a powerful tool that helped us retain facts: books.

In the era of digital technologies, books are being turned into eBooks. Modern search engines make fact-finding really easy — with just a few clicks you can discover answers to many questions.

Whileknowledge has become more easily available for more people, the currentapproach to education has two significant problems:

• It’s based on the sameold format — fact retention. Teaching methods are focused on providingfacts; however, having access to and consuming a lot of information isn’tlearning. Being informed isn’t the same as being educated.
• Alot of people have difficulties comprehending information. Toomuch information received in a short period of time can easily overwhelmstudents. As a result, they become bored, disengaged, and usually not sure whythey are learning about a topic in the first place.

What makes VR in education beneficial?

Virtualreality can be used to enhance student learning and engagement. VR educationcan transform the way educational content is delivered; it works on the premiseof creating a virtual world — real or imagined — andallows users not only see it but also interact with it. Being immersedin what you’re learning motivates you to fully understand it. It’ll requireless cognitive load to process the information.

Hereare just a few properties that makes virtual reality in education so powerful.

Better sense of place

Whenstudents read about something, they often want to experience it. With VR, theyaren’t limited to word descriptions or book illustrations; they can explore thetopic and see how things are put together.

Thanksto the feeling of presence VR provides, students can learn about a subject byliving it. It’s easy to forget that VR experiences aren’t real — a bodyactually believes it’s in a new place. This feeling engages the mind in a waythat is remarkable.

Scale learning experiences

Technologies such as science labs are amazing — they allow students to understand how things work based on practical experience.

A relatively small VR device can even act as a whole science lab.

But such technologies are expensive and almost impossible to scale. They are also limited in the number of things they can do.

Learn by doing

It’sa well-known fact that people learn best by doing; however, if you inspectmodern education, you’ll see how little learning actually happens by doing.Students are focused on reading instructions rather than using them inpractice.

VRin education provides an experience anchor to the instruction. With VReducation, learners are inspired to discover for themselves. Students have anopportunity to learn by doing rather than passively reading.

Emotional reaction

Visceralreactions to what we are experiencing are fundamental to forming memories. VRin education makes it easy to engage students the whole time, makingexperiences memorable.

Develop creativity

Havingvirtual reality in education is useful not only for content consumption, butit’s also great for content creation. By giving students powerful tools such asTilt Brush, you help them boost their creativity.

Visual learning

A lot of people are visual learners — VR is really helpful for this group of learners. Instead of reading about things, students actually see the things they’re learning about. Being able to visualize complex functions or mechanisms makes them easier to comprehend.

Users are ready to embrace new technology

Thefirst idea that pops into anyone’s mind when they think about VR technology isan entertainment experience. Many designers see VR as an extension of thegaming industry. It’s true that VR has historically been dedicated to gaming,but things are changing. According to a recent survey conducted by GreenlightVR, desire for education outweighs desire for gaming content — 63.9 percent vs.61 percent.

Categories of VR educational experiences

Where can we apply virtual reality in education? The answer is almost everywhere. VR creates an infinite set of possibilities that people can experience. Here are few types of experiences you can create with VR.

Virtual Reality: Apps Ideas & Resources List

Virtual fields trips

VR technology can be used to engage students in topics related to geography, history, or literature by offering a deeply immersive senses of place and time. Simply imagine geography lessons where you can visit any place on the globe — this type of experience is much more enriching than just reading about it.

With VR, they aren’t limited to word descriptions or book illustrations; they can explore the topic and see how things are put together.

Google Expeditions is one good example of an app designed to provide such an experience. Expedition is a library of field trips available for regular smartphone users. Each trip is comprised of VR panoramas, and trips vary from the Great Wall of China to Mars. People all over the world can visit places that are virtually impossible to visit in person.

Googlepiloted this app in hundreds of schools all over the world. The project wasextremely successful, with Google taking more than 1 million students in 11countries on expeditions.

Ofcourse, virtual reality will never replace real field trips and travels, norshould it. But, VR enables experiences to happen that would be otherwiseimpossible.

High tech training

VRis a good solution for highly technical training fields like the military orthe medical industry. For example, the most significant challenge for medicalstudents learning anatomy is understanding the body in three dimensions and howdifferent systems fit together. VR education can help overcome this problem.

Onegood example is the VR system used by Mendel Grammar School in Opava City,Czech Republic, which helps students in biology classes learn about the anatomyof the eye. The team working on this project employed a Leap Motion controllerand specially-­adapted Oculus Rift headsets to provide an innovative way oflearning anatomy.

Internships

Gettingexposure to different careers is an essential part of the learning process.From early childhood, we dream about what we want to be when we grow up, andthose dreams are usually inspired by the professionals in our lives. Often, weget this understanding through internships.

I never teach my pupils, I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.

Anotherbenefit of having virtual reality in education is its ability to help broadenstudents’ exposure to careers. It improves people’s ability to imaginethemselves in others’ shoes. Career expeditions show what it’s like to work ina field — students can explore a day in someone’s career, see what person isstudying, and understand what a person likes — or doesn’t like — about theirjob. As a result, the experience becomes familiar to students.

Group learning

Someof the most important knowledge we gain doesn’t come from what we hear fromlecturers, but rather from collegiality and debate. VR education gives theopportunity to make learning experiences social by allowing students tocommunicate with each other. Using avatars and mapped facial expressions,people can come together to discuss, synthesize, and learn from one another.

Distance learning

Virtual Reality: Apps Ideas & Resources Videos

VRallows us to bridge the gap between educators and learners. With VR, distancelearning tools can put educators and students together in the same room withdigital representations of themselves — teachers can teleport into the VR worldand guide students through their experiences.

Design challenges for VR education experiences

Clearly, the future of virtual reality in education is very exciting and full of potential. We are just at the dawn of this powerful technology and designing for VR is full of challenges that we should be ready to overcome.

5 key properties of good VR learning experiences

VR edu apps should have the following properties:

1. Immersive. Designers should strive to create the feeling that users are in an experience. For example, if you develop a history app, make history come alive for students.
2. Easy to use. Eliminate the need to have special skills to interact with a VR app.
3. Meaningful. Meaning is really important for students. You can’t create a good VR learning experience without a good story. That’s why it so important to advance the art of storytelling. Stories quite simply provide the best vehicle for delivering messages that are not only heard and understood, but that also inspire and elicit action.
4. Adaptable. As Albert Einstein once said, “I never teach my pupils, I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.” VR experiences should allow students to explore at their own pace. The app should provide complete control over the level of difficulty. Designers should establish how students learn and then use this knowledge to design VR products that allow effective learning.
5. Measurable. Each educational tool should provide measured impact. Teachers should be able to track the metrics of education so they can measure the resulting knowledge of a subject. When designing experiences for VR education, it’s essential to choose appropriate metrics and make it clear what criterium will be used to measure success and failure.

Creating a new role for teachers with VR education

Thetransition from analog teaching practices to digital ones is going to changewhat teaching looks like. The role of a teacher will change from contentdelivery to content facilitation. Teachers will be focused on creatingconditions for exploring, rather than providing ready-made knowledge.

Our changing understanding of immersive experiences

It’s clear we’re in the early stages of VR — and it’s going to keep changing. However, technology will continue to push boundaries of how immersive VR can become. We’re even going to see advancements in eye tracking and body tracking in coming years. What we consider an immersive experience today will be considered table stakes in the not-too-distant future.

Making VR accessible

VRhas a high price point that is a significant barrier for many users. If weanalyze the success of Google Expeditions, it’s clear that Google was able toreach this many students because the hardware was really accessible. To make VReducation accessible to a majority of users, it’s important to focus oncreating VR experiences for devices users already have and repurpose them intopowerful tools for education. A phone we have in our pockets and $20-100headset devices — such as Google Cardboard or Samsung Gear VR — should beenough to give students good VR experiences.

Open New Horizons with VR Education

Virtualreality in education is on the horizon, and without a doubt, it’ll change theworld as we know it. Twenty-first century classrooms will be technologically advanced placesof learning, with VR technology significantly increasing students’ engagementand learning. VR experiences will inspire awhole new generation of young and bright students, ready to innovate and changethe world.

At the same time, the next big thing in education no longer relies on technology, but rather on a teacher’s decision to push forward and adopt these technologies inside the classroom. The global goal should be to make knowledge available, accessible, and affordable for everyone on the planet. Learn more about the design of other Emerging Technologies here.

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